Nancy Pelosi's Photoshopped Picture of Congresswomen Comes Under Fire

WASHINGTON (AP) - House minority leader Nancy Pelosi on Fridaydefended an altered picture of Democratic congresswomen that was postedon her Flickr photo-sharing site.

The photo showed four members who were not in the original picture,which was taken Thursday when lawmakers were sworn in as members of the113th Congress. They arrived at the Capitol steps late, and their imageswere inserted with a computer program.

"It was an accurate historical record of who the Democratic women ofCongress are," Pelosi told a news conference. "It also is an accuraterecord that it was freezing cold and our members had been waiting a longtime for everyone to arrive and ... had to get back into the buildingto greet constituents, family members, to get ready to go to the floor.It wasn't like they had the rest of the day to stand there."

Pelosi said the photo reflected the nation's diversity, because it included women from every community and religious faith.